Betsy Brown Braun, is the bestselling author of the award winning "Just Tell Me What to Say" (HarperCollins 2008), and "You’re Not the Boss of Me"(HarperCollins, 2010), a best seller also in its fourth printing. A renowned child development and behavior specialist, popular parent educator, and mother of adult triplets, she is a frequent speaker at educational and business conferences, has been a guest expert on Today, the Early Show, Good Morning America, Dr. Phil, Entertainment Tonight, Rachel Ray, and NPR, is a regular contributor to Fox News, and has been cited in USA Today, the New York Times, Family Circle, Parents, Parenting, Woman’s Day, Real Simple, and Good Housekeeping among countless other publications and websites. As the founder of Parenting Pathways, Inc., Betsy offers private consulting and parenting seminars as well. She and her husband live in Pacific Palisades, California.

Entries by Betsy Brown Braun

With ever-increasing numbers of homeless in our cities, it is not surprising that young children are asking questions. Whether it is someone in the street asking each car for money, someone pushing a cart overflowing with possessions or a person forlornly propped up against a building, children notice...

One of the signs (sometimes laced with a bit of sadness) that your child is growing up is when the inevitable question comes, Is Santa real? While it seems so simple, it is one that puts many a parent into a tail spin. What should I say? Should I tell...

Chanukah is around the corner, and there are just three weeks until Christmas. The world is kicking into high gear for the holidays. It's inescapable. The media, advertisers and merchants are targeting our children and us, pointing us towards their ultimate goal: buy buy buy. It's no wonder that children...

Anticipating the winter holidays, a parent asked me how to handle her kids' yearly booty comparison and complaints of the inequality of the gifts they receive. It ruins the holidays for me, she lamented.

When a parent thinks back on the Winter gift giving holidays of her youth, I doubt...

In a well watched video Jimmy Kimmel shows kids' reactions to the news that their parents have eaten all their Halloween candy. Kimmel claims he was surprised to see how really upset many kids were. Not I! Kids love their Halloween candy. I repeat, they LOVE it.

The outing to Starbucks with our 2-year-old grandtoddler was perfect. Not a glitch. No screaming, no crying, no collapsing into a heap, no refusal to walk, no running into the street, no running away. And not one single tantrum. Ah, the joys of being a grandparent. Admittedly, the walk, which...

"I'm a wreck!" was the reply from my client, mother of two elementary school age kids, when I asked her how things were going. Her children had started back to school the week before. And, truth be told, they were doing great. Both liked their teachers, classes, friends, and were...

"It's not fair!" Can't you just hear the whiney tone that delivers that exclamation? I've yet to meet a parent whose child hasn't at some point or other protested, "That's not faaaiiiiiirrrr?" (Note the drawn out faaaiiiiiirrrr, added for extra impact on you, the parent.)

As the big hand creeps its way toward midnight on December 31, most people give at least a fleeting thought to New Year's resolutions. Those usually have to do with eating or exercise or a nagging behavior ripe for modification. And we all know how long those last: Not very....

In the video, "Emotional Baby is Moved to Tears by Mom's Singing," we witness the power of emotion in even the youngest of babies. At only 10 months old, the baby's deep feelings spill over in the form of tears when he hears his mother's beautiful singing.

In a well-watched video, Jimmy Kimmel shows kids' reactions to the news that their parents have eaten all their Halloween candy. Kimmel claims he was surprised to see how really upset many kids were. Not I! Kids love their Halloween candy. I repeat, they LOVE it.

Now that the school year has begun, it won't be long before one morning you'll awaken to the declaration, "I don't want to go to school." It's a cry, actually more of a plea, which every parent is likely to face at least once, if not 10 times, each school...

It isn't usually until the fall that I begin to hear chatter about parents wanting their kids to find their passion, who are eager to enroll their kids in specialized, extracurricular classes. I have already weighed in on this topic, kids finding passion. Eye roll.

Infants as young as 6 months have the ability to demonstrate empathy, according to current research. Whether or how empathy develops as the child grows is a whole different story. Here we go again, nature vs. nurture. A recent experience of mine points to an answer.

You tell your child it's time for bed. Instead of the pitter-patter of feet running up the stairs, you get "Whyyyyyyy?" All parents have heard it. The funny thing is, you know your child isn't really looking for an answer.

There are no good words to explain to anyone -- let alone to kids -- what happened at the elementary school in Connecticut this morning. The horrific incident is every parent's worst nightmare, unfathomable and unspeakable. The air is heavy with the horror. The president of our country wept during...